Senior Design Project Team Spray n Prey Designs and Delivers a Portable and Collapsible Paint Solution for the USAF
A 2022-2023 Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Capstone Program team under the guidance of Dr. Scott Shaffar has developed a solution for the USAF to help maintain the B-1B bomber. This project is a collaboration between SDSU Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Defense National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and the US Air Force 28th Maintenance Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The challenge presented to our SDSU students at the start of the fall semester was that the B-1B aircraft engine nacelles are exposed to extreme wind friction during flight causing the outer coating to erode. That coating erosion must be addressed by a routine re-finishing process. The Senior Design project objective was to design and deliver a portable and collapsible paint booth for repairing the B-1B nacelles in order to reduce the workload on the 28 th Maintenance Squadron. This team, comprised of SDSU students Eric Apgar, Travus Clark, Daniel Murillo, Hernan Velazquez Munoz, and Joshua Pascohas successfulTwo Columnsly designed, tested and ultimately demonstrated the full-scale paint booth at Ellsworth AFB. TSgt Aguiar, from the 28th Maintenance Squadron has shared that the new paint booth system designed by our SDSU Mechanical Engineering students has reduced his team’s setup time from 24 labor hours down to 4 labor hours. Moreover, the SDSU design has been maintenance free with operational durations now lasting over a week. As TSgt Aguiar said “I have manpower shortages, so this type of time saver is extremely valuable”. The paint booth has now been fully integrated into the USAF B-1B refinishing process and is also compliant with USAF Bioenvironmental Engineering standards. For our Mechanical Engineering students, the Senior Design Capstone Program has provided a “real life” engineering design experience in a team environment using a structured, proven engineering design and development methodology.
